Zusammenfassung

The Bol’shoj Tkhach massif in the NW Caucasus is a small but beautiful karst area of
sub–alpine/ alpine characteristic. It comprises several, rather different caves. Visitable
caves are mostly fossil, with large calcite crystals (decimetres range) or thick layers
of moonmilk. Moreover, some vertical caves and siphons await future exploration and
promise much unexplored continuation. Cave exploration in this area was done mainly
by local speleologists. Additional research was done by various external speleologists and
international expeditions. This report summarises the current knowledge about the karst
area of the Bol’shoj Tkhach based on the work done so far by the several data sources
available.